My Brilliant Divorce

Plot

Middle-aged Angela is left and divorced by her husband of many years (nicknamed Roundhead) after he discloses that he has a Mexican lover "Mona the Poser". Angela's adult daughter tells her that she was the only person who didn't know about the affair, which has been going on long-term.

Alone, with only family dog Axal for company, Angela mourns her marriage and learns how to live without her family. Sometimes very depressed and ringing the local helpline, other times resolute and upbeat, Angela goes on holiday solo, rediscovers sex (and sex shops!), visits her doctor for random illnesses she never has, mocks "Roundhead the embellisher" for pretending his penis is a large when it is not even a medium and celebrates Christmas and birthdays by herself.

Finally she takes off on an outward bound holiday which is naturally somewhat ill-advised but begins a relationship with the doctor whom she has seen every week or so since her divorce and who has joined her on the outward-bound excursion.

The play looks at themes such as late in life divorce, middle-aged loneliness, how a person functions once children have left the nest, life experiences and how to cope when the world you have built comes crashing down.

The Phoenix Players Theatre, Nairobi

Amiral Theatre, Athens

Pavlakis Theatrical Enterprises

The Apollo Shaftesbury, London

Druid Theatre, Galway

Divadlo Na Fidlovačce, Prague

Downstage Theatre, Wellington